Appalachian Upstate?

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Last
week Republicans thought they'd found a weak spot when he compared Upstate New
York to Appalachia.

"If
you drive from Schenectady to Niagara
Falls, you'll see an economy that is devastated," he said. "It
looks like Appalachia. This is not the New York we dream of."

State/Monroe
County Republican Party Chair Steve Minarik sent an op-ed piece to scores of
papers around the state attacking Spitzer's comments.

"Appalachia ... shares
little in common with the upstate that millions of hard-working New Yorkers
call home," Minarik wrote, describing Appalachia as being "known
for its underdevelopment, harsh coal mining practices, and widespread poverty."

"Using
the term 'Appalachia' only proves that Eliot Spitzer is out
of touch with Upstate New York," said Minarik.

That
turned out to be the sound of an attack backfiring. Unfortunately for the gov,
the media was quick to jump on the fact that, well, actually, there are Empire Zones in Appalachia. That's
because 14 of New York's counties are designated Appalachian by the federal
government. According to a New York Times
report on the issue, the state got $2.5 million from the federal government
from the Appalachian Regional Commission for those counties. (Not to mention
that even if they aren't called Empire Zones, most other states, including
others in Appalachia, have tax incentive programs. Or that there are serious
doubts about the effectiveness of these programs.)

Both
attacks appeared to gain little ground. State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno
all but agreed with Spitzer. Minarik's foray into righteous indignation, an
emotion more politically suited to the left, simply came across as odd. That,
coupled with Pataki's embarrassing ignorance about the state he's supposed to
have been governing for the past dozen years, seems to have largely deflated
any angst Spitzer's comments might have aroused Upstate.

Meanwhile,
Spitzer was busy spinning himself as a realist and his comments as evidence
that he's the only candidate willing to face the tough facts about Upstate's
economy. At a stop in Rochester last week, he
called Republicans' criticism "Pollyannaish" and "a disavowal of reality."

"Rochester and western New York are facing
economic decline," he said in response to media questions. "Parts of Appalachia are doing
better than we are."

Spitzer's
campaign backed that assertion up, providing City Newspaper a pack of statistics, including these:

Ã¢â¬Â¢
From 1990 to 2000, Appalachia's population rose by a 10.34 percent,
while Upstate's increased by only 1.08 percent. Only West
Virginia and North Dakota grew more
slowly.

Ã¢â¬Â¢
40 percent of the 100 fastest growing counties in America from 2004 to
2005 were in Appalachian states. None were from Upstate New York.

Ã¢â¬Â¢
The average job growth rate from January 1996 to January 2006 was twice as high
in Appalachia as in
Upstate.

Ã¢â¬Â¢
Upstate's median household income is less than that of the Appalachian states
and grew 20 percent more slowly than Appalachian states during the 1990s.

But
the most devastating stat came not from Spitzer's campaign, but from the State
Business Council, which provided the Democrat
and Chronicle with an op-ed to counterbalance Minarik's.

"In
2002, average personal income throughout Appalachia was $25,470,"
Council CEO Dan Walsh wrote. "That was $1,390 higher than the average in the
upstate New York counties
considered part of Appalachia. It's still the case that relatively
fewer people live in poverty in upstate New York --- 11
percent in 2000, compared to 13.6 percent in Appalachia. But the
upstate poverty rate rose during the 1990s, while Appalachia's declined."